Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrives in Ottawa on Wednesday to meet with Justin Trudeau and discuss a possible Extradition Treaty between Canada and China. While China claims the extradition would be geared towards “economic fugitives” I am greatly concerned that real targets may be Chinese dissidents who are currently living in Canada.

As well it is no secret that China is one of the worst human rights violators in the world with the highest rate of execution per capita in the world. There is serious concern surrounding China’s judicial process including rule of law and due process. The Chinese Government systematically arrests, imprisons and tortures peaceful Falun Gong practitioners and there is credible evidence that China may be killing Falun Gong practitioners in prison, and selling their organs for profit!

China is also known for its execution of non-political prisoners including those accused of “economic crimes”. Agreeing to an Extradition Treaty with China will put Canada in the position of sending people back to face torture and even execution which goes against Canada’s obligations not to extradite people who would be facing the death penalty.

Perhaps the most terrifying aspect of the possible Extradition Treaty is that Prime Minister is doing it for economic gain only. Canada will not gain anything from an extradition treaty as China’s extradition law does not allow anyone of Chinese nationality to be extradited to a foreign country. Canada is only considering the extradition treaty in order to gain more favorable terms around Canola Imports!

If Justin Trudeau is willing to send people to their death for favorable terms surrounding Canola Import what is to stop him from agreeing to have an extradition treaty with a dictatorship like Iran for economic gain, and endanger the lives of Iranian Canadians like myself who are considered to be “criminals” by the Regime in Iran for our political activities against the dictatorship?

Today it’s Canada China, tomorrow it might be Canada Iran or Canada Saudi Arabia or any other dictatorship in the world. We need to speak up now to make sure human lives are not traded for economic gain at least in Canada.

Re: Canada must not Restore Diplomatic Ties with the Islamic Regime in Iran and has a Duty to Canadians not to re-open their Embassy in Ottawa
When Canada decided to cut diplomatic ties with the Islamic Regime in Iran four years ago, many Iranian Canadians rejoiced that the Islamic Regime’s Embassy in Ottawa also known as the “House of Terror” would finally be shut down.

At the time many in the Iranian Canadian Community referred to the Embassy as the “House of Terror” because the Embassy served as an operation headquarters for attempts to spy on Canadians and manipulate public policy and opinion. It identified and intimidated pro-democracy activists, with particular regard to Iranian Canadian dissidents whose families in Iran may have been vulnerable. Along with front organizations Embassy personnel penetrated our universities and some “students” boasting embassy connections warned campus democracy activists not to get out of line.

On the eve of the four (4) year anniversary of Canada breaking diplomatic ties with the Islamic Regime in Iran, the Iranian Canadian Congress (ICC) created a petition asking the Canadian Government to re-establish ties with the Islamic Regime in Iran and to re-open the embassy.

It is important to note that ICC does not represent the Iranian Canadian Community as a whole, but only a small numbers of Iranians most of them currently based in Toronto. It is further important to note that while a fraction of our community may support the re-opening of the Islamic Regime Embassy in Ottawa, there is a large number of us who vehemently oppose it!

There is great concern among our community about Islamic Regime’s systematic human rights violations against women, students, journalists, workers, teachers, religious and ethnic minorities and political dissidents in Iran. We watch in horror as Islamic Regime continues to have one of the highest rates of executions in the world. We are horrified to watch our brothers and sisters as they are arrested, arbitrarily detained and tortured for peacefully protesting or standing up for their rights.

We are also extremely concerned about the health and well being of Iranian Canadians currently detained by the Islamic Regime in Iran, including Saeed Malekpour and Homa Hoodfar. As you are well aware Mr. Malekpour has been detained for over eight (8) years, while Ms. Hoodfar was arrested in June of this year and there are serious concerns with regards to her health.

Lastly as opponents of the Islamic Regime in Iran, and activists who campaigned for years for Canada to cut diplomatic ties with the Regime and shut down its embassy, we have serious concerns about the re-opening of the “House of Terror” and the effects that might have on our safety and safety of our families and friends in Iran, as well as our ability to peacefully oppose the Islamic Regime.

We are urging the Canadian Government to continue to take a strong stand against Iran’s human rights violations, and take into account the safety and security of Iranian Canadians living in Canada. We urge Canada not to re-engage with Islamic Regime at a time when the Regime is holding Iranian Canadians hostage and brutalizing its own people.

It’s crucial for Canada to take a strong stand and make it clear to the Islamic Regime that torture, rape, public executions and hostage taking of dual citizens will not be rewarded by renewal of diplomatic relations and the re-opening of the Islamic Regime’s Embassy.

In “After Obama, Reviewing American Leadership, Restoring Global Order” Robert Singh does a brilliant job of setting out challenges faced by the Obama administration with respect to foreign policy, analyzing the approaches taken by Obama and finally making suggestions on what the new U.S. administration can do to combat those challenges, and to make sure the United States remains a strong force in world politics.

One of my favorite quotes from the book was “underinvestment in the military and overinvestment in global cooperation has left America with more international challenges but fewer capabilities to meet them.” Singh is referring to both threats posed by an “exploding Middle East” as well as “existential threats on the USSR’s scale”. I found myself agreeing with most of Singh’s analysis and reasoning, and found them to be soundly based on objective facts and statistics.

As an Iranian-Canadian pro-democracy activist for me some of the most interesting parts of the book dealt with Iran and how Obama chose to deal with Iran’s nuclear threat. The author discusses in length the Iran nuclear agreement signed in 2015 and makes the analogy “despite the administration offering less an olive branch than entire forest for a nuclear accord.” I certainly agree with the analysis that Obama not only made huge concessions in order to have Iran sign the nuclear agreement (without Iran making similar concessions), Obama also chose to turn a blind eye to Iran’s systematic human rights violations, and gave the Islamic dictatorship the green light to carry on with arresting, torturing and murdering its citizen.

I found a lot of data and statistics in this book to be stirring, in that they show how fluid politics can be and how issues that are not significant during one election campaign may become crucial during the next campaign.

Robert Singh also took some time to give an overview of the history behind both the Republican and Democratic Party and their historic stand on foreign policy, which put the current election campaign and the rise of the two current Presidential nominees Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton into perspective.

I really enjoyed reading this book and found it easy to digest. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in U.S. politics and foreign policy.

I was provided with a free copy of this book for the purpose of review.

Hard To Believe is a documentary about the state approved murder of Falun Gong practitioners in China, in order to harvest their organs. While many of us may be familiar with the systematic human rights violations in China, which include the imprisonment and torture of Falun Gong practitioners, very few of us are familiar with organ harvesting in China. Hard To Believe sheds light on this inhumane practice by the Chinese Government.

Hard To Believe is about 56 minutes long and very engaging from the beginning to the end. It gives a great overview of the persecution of Falun Gong practice which is a peaceful spiritual practice that focuses on truth and compassion. The Chinese Government considers Falun Gong a cult and started the crackdown on its practitioners in 1999.

According to Hard To Believe there are between half a million to one million Falun Gong Practitioners in prison at any given time in China. The documentary discusses the mandatory blood and eye tests and organ examinations directed at Falun Gong practitioners.
We hear from Enver Tohti, a former Chinese surgeon who was told to remove the organs of a live prisoner who had just been shot to be executed. The shot had not killed the prisoner, however Tohti was told not to worry about anesthesia and remove the organs as soon as possible.

We also hear from former political prisoners who were imprisoned and tortured, but also subjected to cornea tests, extensive blood tests and organ examinations.

David Matas a Canadian human rights lawyer who has done extensive research on this issue and has tried to shed light on the brutal practice of organ transplant in China tells us how the organs of Falun Gong practitioners are ideal because of their healthy life styles, and the Chinese Government sells these organs for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

One of the tragedies we learn about in this documentary is the silence of the main stream media, which essentially amounts to giving China the green light to keep on murdering prisoners of conscience to sell their organs for a profit.

After watching this documentary you come to realize it is NOT hard to believe, and it is happening, and it’s time for the international community to stand up and condemn organ harvesting in China. I highly recommend this documentary to any human rights activist or organization who is interested in the human rights situation in China. I encourage you to visit their website at http://www.hardtobelievemovie.com/ and learn how to help.

I was provided with a free copy of this documentary for review purposes.

“Resurrection an American Journey” is a provocative philosophical read that requires thinking and analysis. While I initially had some difficulty following the plot, soon things started falling into place and making sense, and I started to slowly connect the dots.

This book touches on so many subjects relevant to today, including philosophy, economy, politics, war and religion and it forces the reader to take a deeper look and develop a new understanding for each of these subjects.

One of the most fascinating themes within this book is the concept of Have’s v. Have Not’s and how a small but a powerful group is able to manipulate the larger group in upholding the status-quo.

The author WH WiseCarver does a brilliant job of developing memorable characters, some like Mickslaw who we love to hate, and others like Danzig a proud, dignified Captain who refuses to compromise his principles even under the most difficult circumstance.

“Resurrection an American Journey” is not an easy beach read, but it’s clever, fast paced and will make you pause and question the status quo. A very rewarding read I recommend to anyone who is not afraid to dig deep, and find new meaning within older concepts.

About This Writer

Sayeh Hassan is a criminal defense lawyer with Walter Fox & Associates and an Iranian Pro-Democracy activist. She is the author of the shiro-khorshid-forever blog (www.shiro-khorshid-forever.blogspot.com) which focuses on the pro-democracy movement and Regime Change in Iran. Through her pro-democracy activities she stays in close contact with activists in Iran as well as retaining contacts with various human rights and pro-democracy organizations abroad. She regularly speaks at conferences, has appeared on television and radio programs and her writing has been published by publications such as National Post, Toronto Star & Ottawa Citizen. She can be contacted at sayehhassan30@gmail.com